Indore: India has been leading the way in technology, renewable energy, and sustainable development, said Guyana President Mohamed Irfaan Ali on Tuesday as he vouched for bilateral cooperation in several areas.

Irfaan Ali, who was the chief guest at the 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD), said, "India has been leading the way in technology, renewable energy, the soil movement and sustainable development. I'm just very keen on looking at the different models that India would have utilized in building its economy."

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Guyana's President said he plans to position his country as a regional food and energy security leader. He also added that Guyana wishes to play the role of the regional player within the Caribbean and Latin American region.

He underlined the potential to enhance cooperation with India, saying his visit to the country is to engage with the Indian government and strategize on important areas.

"My visit here is not only for the (PBD) convention but to engage with the government of India and strategize on some important areas where we share mutual interests, where we have comparative advantages, and seeing how we can transform those advantages to benefit Guyana," he said.

Irfaan Ali today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held a discussion on wide-ranging issues, including energy, infrastructure development, healthcare, technology and defence cooperation

Speaking about his meeting with PM Modi, Irfaan Ali said Prime Minister Modi is fully aware of the development of Guyana and how it will be the fastest-growing economy in the world. "What we discussed was the areas in which Guyana would require support and areas in which Guyana can offer India tremendous opportunities," he added.

He said that discussion took place on bilateral cooperation on the military side as the country seeks to modernize its defence force and the police force. "Another important issue is capacity building, human resource training and development, strengthening our human resource base ensuring that we have the right complement of human resource," he added.

Stressing the energy need requirement today, Guyana's President said that both countries discussed the possibilities of further cooperating and strengthening the relationship in that area.

"We have specific discussions that will take place around the energy sector. The energy, sectors as I said is a key sector for Guyana and as you know, because of what is taking place in that sector, the speed of development, there are many international players that are looking to Guyana as an important partner in fulfilling their energy needs and meeting their energy needs."

On the role of the Indian Diaspora, he said it is not only the largest diaspora, but it is a diaspora that has tremendous skill sets.

"They are leaders in many industries, many of the important transformative sectors that are required for Guyana and they provide strong leadership. So, networking within a diaspora itself is supporting the transformation and in the sectors of growth and development is a critical opportunity for the Indian diaspora, for the Indian private sector here and for its prime private sector generally in Guyana," said the President.

Underscoring India's key role in global transformation, the President hailed India's efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic when other countries tended to their interests.

"India provided strong leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic by ensuring that there was no lockdown and that the vaccines were made available for the developing countries especially, and the developing world had an opportunity to get access to vaccines from India. So, India, I think was a leader in globalization," he said.

He regretted that globalization showed the cracks and failures as many countries closed their borders and forgot that they are operating in a global environment when they locked in whatever vaccine they could.

"...India showed that the world is still filled with hope and globalization can still work if there is the responsibility to the global community," he said.

On India's role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict crisis, the President said that the war in Ukraine has serious international implications, but India has demonstrated that it is willing to work with every partner in promoting peace and promoting dialogue.

On Wednesday, the Guyana President will also participate in the Global Investors Summit 2023 in Indore. Apart from Indore, President Ali will also visit Delhi, Kanpur, Bangalore and Mumbai.